Reporting

Among the number of advisory boards that have been cut by the White House is one that gave guidance on the dangers of lithium ion batteries on aircraft. (Bruce Bennett / Getty Images) The Trump administration this year has eliminated about 160 expert advisory committees across the federal government, almost a third of them over the recommendations of the agencies that oversee them, in by far the biggest purge of nonpartisan regulatory advice in the nearly three decades in whi

The Trump administration began clearing the way for alternative assets in workplace 401(k)s by eliminating Biden-era guidance warning plans about the danger off-market funds posed to retirement-saver nest eggs. The US Labor Department said it was rescinding a 2021 supplemental statement that cautioned against private-market valuation risks, illiquidity, and lack of transparency. Biden attached the statement to the strategy Trump’s DOL laid out during his first term, establish

The success of the Trump administration’s mission to modernize workplace 401(k)s with alternative private investments hinges on risk-averse employers that have steered worker assets almost exclusively into stocks and bonds for decades. President Donald Trump‘s executive order on Thursday paves the way for companies to consider offering private market, cryptocurrency, and other off-market investments in retirement plan menus. The order seeks to overcome deep-rooted employer sk

The federal government overpaid one of the nation’s largest union-backed pensions by more than $127 million in bailout cash because it failed to detect dead participants the plan had reported, according to a new watchdog memo. A review by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s Office of Inspector General found the government’s private-sector retirement plan insurer didn’t cross-check deceased participants the Central States Pension Plan reported in its application for spe

Bipartisan measures lawmakers are pushing to get over the finish line before the start of the new congressional calendar next year could add $83.6 billion to the retirement savings marketplace and create an entirely new class of workplace savers. If passed, the slate of bills dubbed SECURE Act 2.0 would have real-world effects on new worker access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, reshaping the kinds of investments employees have in those plans and how savers could pres

Workplace retirement savers who fall victim to cyber crimes are finding they don’t always have an easy way to get their money back as employers and service providers grapple over who’s responsible. The $19.8 trillion employer-sponsored retirement industry is ripe for web-based thieves, especially as portfolio management and distribution services shift online. Several high-profile federal lawsuits involving companies such as Abbott Laboratories Inc., Colgate-Palmolive Co., and